Battery Dance Festival

Battery Dance Festival, New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival, was established by Battery Dance as the Downtown Dance Festival in 1982. It draws in-person audiences of approximately 2,000 people each night from the large downtown population of workers, residents, families, tourists, senior citizens and dance fans from the greater NYC metropolitan area and beyond. The Festival went virtual in 2020, attracting 30,000 viewers across 206 countries. In 2021, it ran as a hybrid model with over 10,000 in-person and over 21,000 virtual audience members. Since 2023, the Festival has welcomed in-person and live-streamed audiences from its new home at Rockefeller Park.

“There's something about the sense of community, the sharing of cultures, the plethora of dance styles under the changing light from the late summer sky that invigorates the spirit every August. To our tried-and-true fans, we say ‘see you again soon!’ To newcomers, we look forward to surprising you with the beauty of Rockefeller Park and the delight of seeing phenomenal dance companies in the open-air setting,” said Jonathan Hollander, Founder and Artistic Director of Battery Dance.

Performance Schedule:

Wednesday, August 14: Battery Dance; Carolyn Dorfman Dance; Lucas Crew; Rutkay Özpinar; Pori Dance Company.

2024 FESTIVAL ARTISTS (roster subject to change):

Battery Dance (NYC)

Happy to be alive with you., World Premiere

Battery Dance will present its second world premiere at this year’s festival: Happy to be alive with you., by choreographer Dolly Sfier, created at a residency at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY in Spring 2024.

Carolyn Dorfman Dance (Union, NJ)

WAVES

CDD commissioned virtuoso musicians Cellist Jessie Reagen Mann, Beat Boxer and Shahi Baaja player Pete List and multiple recorder player Daphna Mor to create this work. In WAVES, Dorfman et al worked simultaneously in the studio to explore multi-faceted aspects of "waves." Together they create a rich dialogue; a sensation-based exploration of sound and motion.

Lucas Crew (Daegu, South Korea)

Mio Maria, World premiere

“My life is a bit bitter.

It's so bitter. I can't sleep well at night.

I miss, I feel lonely and angry.

I just wanted a little bit more bitter night to make my life sweet.

I wanted to be happy.

I wanted to achieve everything I wanted without losing myself.

There were hard days.

I was nervous and afraid at times How did he hold out?”

Rutkay Özpinar (Den Haag, Netherlands)

Something about Something, US premiere

In Something about Something, three dancers share a story leaving everything up to the audience's perception and imagination. What does a creation say and what is the message behind it? Dance and a creation speak for themselves as art, and the magic lies in the wonder that cannot be expressed in words. Sponsorship provided by Dutch Culture USA.

Pori Dance Company (Pori, Finland)

Songs, US premiere

Songs is a love letter to dancing together. The work, which talks about gentleness and the beauty of trying again, creates a meeting place for memories and dreams for dancers in different stages of life, some of whom have worked together for decades, some of whom have just met. Songs is an attempt to be brave without any aim of provocation. The courage of the piece is by nature quiet, revealing and listening to others. In the songs of Songs, life rings with all its longings, loves and losses. For them, we have been looking for a dance where emotion has room to live. A dance that doesn't really say anything, and yet it has everything. Sponsorship provided by the Consulate General of Finland in New York.